A FORTUNE IN EGGS 



HOW TO BUILD UP A 
HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 




By L. F. VAN ORSDALE 



PRICE, FIFTY CENTS 



Poultry Monthly Publishing Co. 

SYRACUSE, N. Y. 



How to Build Up a 
Heavy Laying Strain 



A Thorough and Exhaustive Treatise 
on Egg Production and the 
Conditions which Govern the 
Development of a Heavy 
and Persistent Lay- 
ing Strain of 
Fowls. 



WRITTEN BY 



L. F. VAN ORSDALE 

COMPILED BY 

D. M. GREEN 



PRICE - - SO CENTS 



PUBLISHED BY 

POULTRY MONTHLY PUBLISHING CO. 
SYRACUSE: N. Y. 



V 



[LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JAN 6 1909 

I *, copyrlent Entry ff 



Copyrighted 1908 

by 

D. M. Green and E. W. Dehler 




THE CHAMPION EGG PRODUCER. 

The Barred Plymouth Rock hen shown in the above illustration, laid by actual count, 251 eggs 

in one year. An accurate trap nest record was kept so that there would be positive 

proof of her performance and is an illustration of what can be accomplished 

along this line. 



Introductory 



Improvement in all departments of poultry keeping has been so 
rapid in the last few years, that books on the subject are practically 
out of date by the time the ink is dry and the methods followed 
universally as the best, previous to the last decade, are now obsolete. 

In presenting this work to the poultry keeping fraternity, the 
authors have endeavored to set forth in unmistakable terms, the 
very latest tested principles to be followed in building up and main- 
taining a healthy and heavy laying strain of standard bred poultry. 

The ultimate goal to be reached is the production of the hen 
with the highest record of even sized salable eggs, improving if 
possible, on the color and flavor of her flesh and developing her 
ability as a breeder to reproduce her kind true to type and in satis- 
factory numbers. Birds with high egg records are being feverishly 
sought after and the trap nest has become one of the essential fix- 
tures of the poultry house. 

Never in the history of the domesticated hen has man been so 
interested in her performance on the nest as at the present and the 
time is fast approaching when the fancy feathered drones will be 
found only in the museums carefully preserved for the benefit of 
the curious. 

We wish to encourage broad thinking on this many-sided sub- 
ject to defeat the too easily contracted habit of accounting for all 
success and all failures by the attention to some one detail or' the lack 
of care in the employment of some other. The causes of success 
and failure are multiple and the dominant cause probably so ob- 
scurely situated in relation to the effect as to be unrecognizable 
except to the profound thinker. So we say be cautious in blaming 
or applauding certain conditions until you have exhausted all your 
ingenuity in trying to place the cause of your results elsewhere. 
The causes of failure are usually good resolutions poorly carried 
out; principles slovenly put into practice. If you know your house 
is damp — remedy it. If your birds are crowded — separate them. 
If they are infected with lice — get to work. Do not put such duties 
off till they have produced bad results. It matters little how much 
we know provided the knowledge is not made use of. 

While careful attention to details will always be rewarded in 



good results, still those details must be applied to property selected 
principles to produce the best results. The conflicting opinions of 
breeders on the details of accomplishing certain ends are frequently 
confusing to the novice. This is due principally to the fact that a 
beginner pays more attention to details than to principle. This is 
an error. Study principles first — always, then carefully fit in details 
to suit the conditions existing in your particular case. 

While poultry culture to-day is most largely achieved by 
following the principles scientifically laid down by actual experiment, 
still the manner in which these principles are put into execution is 
of the greatest importance. It takes brains to put on the finishing 
touches to your work and round out your success that will produce 
a feeling of pride and satisfaction wh :>. you view the result of your 
labor. 

The desire for success on the part of the breeder must be in- 
tense enough to keep his mind engrossed with the study of the sub- 
ject, and the love of his birds must be strong enough to compel him 
to spend all his spare moments studying their habits and character- 
istics and become acquainted with every symptom of health and 
disease. Otherwise he is not fully exerting himself in his own 
behalf. 

We wish to warn our readers against the part degeneracy plays 
on the eve of success. Too rapid progress in culture without the 
necessary attention being paid to the development of constitutional 
vigor will almost invariably defeat the purpose desire 1. Healthy 
birds are the producers of progeny that may be depended upon to 
most nearly resemble the parents and the healthier the parents, the 
higher the percentage of correct duplication of the offspring. 

As a healthy bird will resist disease and withstand unfavorable 
conditions much more readily than a weakened one, so can the 
healthy bird be depended upon to reproduce its kind with its own 
desired characteristics most strongly and truly marked, with better 
chances of improvement in those respects, and at the same time in- 
herit a liveability that will keep them rugged and good to look upon. 
On the other hand, reversion must necessarily follow, producing a 
cull which might othewise claim prominence among the best of the 
flock. To take then what material is at our disposal and gradually 
develop a fowl that will accomplish a yearly record of 200 egg and 
better in large flocks, is the specific purpose of this book. 

A. M. LaFayettk, D. D. S. 

8 



How to Build Up a Heavy Laying Strain 

All persons engaged in poultry keeping are, to a greater or less 
extent, interested in producing eggs, and since these world wide 
articles of commerce play such an important part in the diet of all 
classes and conditions of men, any means tending to increase the 
productiveness of the laying hen has an economic influence worthy 
of the most careful consideration of scientists and breeders. 

Many readers of this book may not have the time, or for va- 
rious other obvious reasons which will unfold in later pages, to 
go into the fullest details of pedigreeing, trap-nesting and selection, 
but there is no reason why anyone, by following the lines laid down 
in this book cannot increase the quantity of hen fruit of any flock. 
And in these pages we will deal with nothing but pure-bred birds. 
I am willing to admit that many people have very good success in 
securing a very Satisfactory supply of eggs from a flock of fowls 
many generations removed from any semblance of ever having been 
pure-bred. This may be sufficient reason for not securing the blue- 
blooded birds, and to those very few persons it surely is, but the 
main factor in the case is at once apparent when for any reason it 
becomes necessary to perpetuate or improve on any particular fea- 
ture of the parent stock. Here is where the pure-bred birds are at 
once necessary, for when one understands that any fowl may have 
had two thousand ancestors in the ten generations preceding it, and- 
the law of reversion constantly recurring undesirable features, it 
is plainly evident that no one can afford the time, labor and expense 
necessary to improve such a multitude of bad features. 



HOW TO START 

The first process in starting to build up a flock of heavy layers 
is to have the layers. If you have a pure-bred flock begin with 
them. If you have mongrels discard them and buy a pen or trio 
of line-bred (will be explained later) pedigreed birds. I should 
prefer to buy yearling hens that have been tested for records for 
one year and a cockerel bred from a 200 egg hen, i. e. one having 

9 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

laid 200 or more eggs in one year. In this way you have the time 
and study, as well as all the years of breeding, of the breeder right 
in your hands and years that he has spent in culling and selecting 
will be put in your yards for less than the birds are worth, figuring 
the patience and expense involved in carrying on such a tedious 
process as the strictest pedigree breeding involves. Pullets from 
tested hens are a very good investment because the breeder only 
keeps those hens for breeders that have established records, besides, 
in most cases, a long line of superior producers behind them, in 
turn. They may generally be bought much cheaper than the tested 
hens and many times one can secure a star performer with his 
first purchase. 

An increasingly large number of buyers are beginning with 
eggs bought from breeders of the finest pedigreed stock, and in some 
instances, at least, this plan offers the best means of securing a start. 
It is a well known fact that breeders will very seldom sell their 
best birds and consequently anyone desiring the superior stock 
must buy eggs in order to secure the top-notch kind. But I have 
always believed that there was more satisfaction in buying the 
stock at the start. It figures out very much like this : Suppose you 
pay $25 for a trio in the fall. They will lay a number of eggs dur- 
ing the winter and the practice in caring for them will certainly be 
of not little value in learning to care for them at the time when the 
eggs will be the most valuable. Two well bred-for-eggs hens should 
lay at least fifteen eggs each per month through the three months of 
March, April and May or 90 eggs for the three months. These eggs 
would cost you $5 per setting of 15, or $30 for the six settings. 
You would not only have a larger number of chicks, in all probabil- 
ity, from your own eggs but the stock would be more uniform, and 
the old birds can be used for two or three vears as breeders. 



10 




ONE OF MR. VAN ORSDALE'S HEAVY LAYERS 

ICgg record, 205 eggs in one year. Silver Cup winner at Bradford, 1906, score 94^4. This 

pullet and first cockerel won cup for highest scoring pair of Rocks, any variety. 

Cockerel dam by hen "Miss Bob White." Dam of second cockerel, 

Buffalo, 1907. 



"THE TRAP NEST" 

If you have bought fowls to start with the first step is to get 
a good trap nest. I have always used the Maine Experiment Sta- 
tion trap nest and find this perfectly accurate in its action, easily 
cleaned, and never out of order. These are the main factors neces- 
sary in any trap nest, the cost being a lesser item. But this is also 
a pleasing feature of this particular trap nest, as it is easy of con- 
struction, and simple in action. 

THE NEW MAINE STATION TRAP NEST.* 

The Maine Agricultural Experiment Station at Orono, Maine, 
state that their experience in trap-nesting large numbers of laying 
hens has served to point out very clearly and forcibly what are the 
points to be desired in an ideal trap nest. These points are : 

First — The nest must be constructed so that it will be impossible 
for a hen to enter it without causing it to close and lock. 
Whether a trigger, treadle, or spring device is used it must be 
so adjusted as to operate without fail. Furthermore the ideal 
trap nest should be so sensitive that the same nest will be 
adapted to hens of different breeds. This is a matter of partic- 
ular importance in hybridizing work where one may have in 
the same pen, for example, Bantam and Cochin or Langshan 
hens. Obviously one cannot insure that in a mixed pen a 
Bantam hen will invariably go to a nest which is built especially 
for her. All the nests should be so constructed that they will 
operate equally well with either a Bantam or a Langshan. 

Second — The nest must be so constructed as to be absolutely cer- 
tain to lock after it has once been sprung, so that a second hen 
may not enter while the first one is on the nest. Practical 
experience shows that this is an important matter. Types of 
trap nests satisfactory in other ways, often fail at just this 
point and to see seven hens and three eggs taken from the same 
trap nest at the same time, as has been the experience of the 
writers, is certainly not a recommendation for that particular 
type of nest. 

Third— It is desirable that a nest be built in two compartments : 

*This nest was invented by Mr. F. D. Sterry, Laboratory Assistant. 

12 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

a rear compartment where the actual nest is located in which the egg" 
is laid and a front compartment where the bird may stand after 
having laid and before she is taken out of the nest. If a front 
compartment is not provided there is great danger that the 
hen w r ill break the egg by stepping on it after it is laid. Having 
two compartments, however, makes necessary a further pro- 
vision. The nest must be so constructed that it will be im- 
possible for a hen to lay in the front compartment without caus- 
ing the trap to operate. A number of well known trap nests, 
including the nest which has formerly been used at this station, 
which are otherwise very satisfactory, are so arranged that the 
trap is not sprung until the hen enters the second compartment 
of the nest. It has been demonstrated in our work here that 
in such a nest there will always be a number of hens which will 
lay in the front compartment of the nest without entering the 
rear compartment at all. Such a hen after having laid passes 
out of the nest without springing the trap, and hence makes it 
impossible to obtain a record for that egg. It has been the 
theory in the construction of two compartment nests of the type 
mention that the hen would go into the rear compartment 
where the nest proper was made in order to lay. This may be 
good theory but as a matter of actual fact hens will more or 
less frequently lay in the front compartment of trap nests of 
this type. 

Fourth — A trap nest to be ideal must be as simple as possible 
in construction and in operation. There are various types of trap 
nests on the market which no doubt are very satisfactory for 

the man who operates perhaps two or three such nests all told. 
These nests, however, are so complicated that it would be hope- 
lessly impossible to operate and keep them in repair and working 
order for a flock of say 2,000 hens. If one is to use trap nests 
on a large scale and continuously they must not only be simple 
in construction but must be such that it will take a minimum 
of time for the caretaker to empty and set them. Trap nesting- 
is an expensive operation at best and it becomes more expensive 
the more complicated the nest is. 

Fifth — The nest should be durable and not likely to get out of 
order in such a way that it will not operate satisfactorily. 

The trap nest now in use at this Station was devised to meet 
these requirements and has been found to do so in a very satis- 
factory manner. 

13 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEST 

The nest is a box-like structure, without fronts, ends or 
cover, 28 inches long-, 13 inches wide, and 16 inches deep, in- 
side measure. A division board with a circular opening 7^ 
inches in diameter is placed across the box 12 inches from the 
rear end and 15 inches from the front end. The rear section 
is the nest proper. Instead of having the partition between the 




Fig. 1. Maine Station Trap Nest. 

two parts of the nest made with a circular hole it is possible to 
have simply a straight board partition extending up 6 inches 
from the bottom as shown in Figure 1. The partition with cir- 
cular opening is, however, recommended. There are several 
reasons why the circular opening appears to be better than the 

14 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRATN 

straight board across the bottom of the nest. Experience has 
shown that a hen is less likely to go back and forth between 
the two partitions after she has laid when there is only the 
relative small circular opening between them, than when there 
is a larger opening. This reduces the liklihood of broken eggs. 
The front portion of the nest has no fixed bottom. Instead 
there is a movable bottom or treadle which is hinged at the back 
end (Figure 1.) To this treadle is hinged the door of the nest. 
The treadle is made of ^2-inch pine stuff with 1%-inch hard 
wood cleats at each end (Figures 2 and 3) to hold the screws 
which fasten the hinges. It is 12 inches wide and 12^4 inches 
long. Across its upper face just behind the hinges holding the 




door is nailed a pine strip 4 inches wide beveled on both sides 
as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The door of the nest is not made 
solid but is an open frame (Figures 1 and 3) to the inner side 
of which is fastened (with staples or cleats) a rectangular piece 
of 34-i n ch mesh galvanized screening (dimensions 8 by 9 inches.) 
The sides of the door are ^4-inch beech stuff 12 inches long and 
\y 2 inches wide halved at the ends to join to the top and bottom 
of the door. The top of the door is a strip of hard wood 13 
inches long and lj/2 inches wide, halved in 2Y\ inches from each 
end. The projecting ends of this top strip serve as stops for 
the door when it closes (Fig. 1.) The bottom of the door is a 
hard wood strip 10^4 inches by 4 inches. The side strips are 



15 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

fitted into the ends of this bottom strip in such a way as to 

project slightly (about 1-32 inch) above the front surface of 
that strip for a reason which will he apparent. 

When the nest is open the door extends horizontally in 
front as shown in Figure 2. In this position the side strips of the 
door rests on a strip of beech \}/ 2 inches wide beveled on the 
inner corner. This beech is nailed to a board 4 inches wide 
which forms the front of the nest proper. To the bottom of 
this is nailed a strip 2 inches wide into which are set 4-inch spikes 
from which the heads have been cut (compare Fig'. 2.) The 
treadle rests on these spikes when the nest is closed. The 




hinges used in fastening" the treadle and door are narrow 3-inch 
galvanized butts with brass pins made to work very easily. It will 
be recognized that the proper working of the nests depends to a 
very large degree on these hinges. It has been found necessary 
to have the hinges made to order in order to get any which 
would be sufficiently loose. This can be done, however, without 
any cost above the regular price of the hinges provided the 
order is placed for a considerable quantity at one time. 

The manner in which the nest operates will be clear from 
an examination of Figures 2 and 3 which show a sample nest 
with one side removed to show the inside. A hen about to lay 

16 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

steps up on the door and walks toward the dark back of the 
nest. When she passes the point where the door is hinged to the 
treadle her weight on the treadle causes it to drop. That at the 
same time pulls the door up behind her as shown in Figure 3. 
It is then impossible for the hen to get out of the nest until the 
attendant lifts door and treadle and resets it. It will be seen 
that the nest is extremely simple. It has no locks or triggers to 
get out of order. Yet by proper balancing of door and treadle it 
can be so delicately adjusted that a weight of less than one-half 
pound on the treadle will spring the trap. All bearing surfaces 
are made of beech because of the well known property of this 
wood to take on a highly polished surface with wear. The 
nests in use at the Maine Station have the doors of hard wood 
in order to get greater durability. Where trap nests are con- 
stantly in use flimsy construction is not economical in the long- 
run. For temporary use the nest door could be constructed of 
soft wood. 

The trap nests are not made with covers because they are 
used in tiers and slide in and out like drawers. They can be 
carried away for cleaning when necessary. Ten nests in a pen 
accommodate 50 hens, by the attendant going through the pens 
once an hour during that part of the day when the hens are 
busiest. Earlier and later in the day his visits are not so fre- 
quent. Considerable experience is needed in trap-nesting before 
one learns how best to manage the hens at different seasons of the 
year with reference to this matter of time of removal of the birds 
from the nests. The tendency with one beginning -trap-nesting 
is to visit the nests too frequently, not allowing a sufficient time 
between visits. The frequent handling upsets the hens and 
increases the number of "floor eggs" (i. e., eggs laid outside the 
trap nests.) The aim should be to provide enough nests so that 
visits to them need not be made oftener than once an hour, even 
during periods of heaviest laying. There is need for exact ob- 
servation to determine what is the average time spent by a 
"non-broody" hen on the nest. 

To remove a hen the nest is pulled part way out, and, as 
it has no cover, she is readily caught, the number on her leg band 
is noted, and the proper entry is made on the record sheet. 
After having been taken off a few times the hens do not object 

17 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

to being handled; most of them remaining quiet, apparently ex- 
pecting" to be picked up. 

One of the chief objections to the trap nest is the impression 
that has become so widely disseminated concerning the time it takes 
to attend to them after they are once installed. There is no founda- 
tion for such an impression because the daily operations around the 
poultry yard will practically cover every visit necessary. The hens 
do not seem to worry when confined in them for an hour or even 
two hours, and if the poult ryman has some one who can make a 
visit to the coop about nine o'clock in the morning, again at noon, 
and once about three o'clock in the afternoon he need have no hesi- 
tancy about installing trap nests. 

The advantages of them are many and it is difficult for one who 
has used them for a year or more to comprehend how successful 
advance can be made without their guidance. They never give a 
hen credit for an egg she did not lay any more than they give a hen 
credit for laying twice a day just because she happened to go on 
the nest twice. They pick out the star layer, the good layer, the 
poor layer, and the non-layer. If they are used during the breeding 
season and the eggs pedigreed, as well as the chicks, it is easily evi- 
dent how certain one can tell which hen is producing the good birds 
and the poor ones likewise. 



THE IMPROVED NEW YORK TRAP NEST. 

During the past three years the College of Agriculture at Cor- 
nell University has been experimenting with trap-nests with the view 
to finding one that would be inexpensive to install, easy to operate, 
and that would be dependable. In all, six different type of nests 
were tested. Three were manufactured nests and the other three 
were inventions of the college. One of the latter devices is here 
described. 

The main difficulty has been to get a nest that would be sure to 
work, would not catch more than one hen at a time, and that would 
be practicable to use on a large scale. Some of the nests were good, 
but were so large and cumbersome that it did not pay to operate 
them or to give them the necessary room in the poultry house. 

Plates 1 and 2 illustrate the improved New York trap-nest 
which the department is using at present. This nest costs but little 

18 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

more to build than the ordinary nest box, and can be used singly or 
run along in series, either under the droppings board or fastened to 
the wall. Plate 1 shows the nest installed underneath the droppings 
board. Plate 2 shows it in use on the wall. The wall form is pre- 
ferred and has been tried with and without the hinged top. It would 
seem that the hinged top serves little purpose other than to facilitate 
cleaning and replenishing the nest with straw, because the hens come 
to the front of the nest after they have laid and will readily walk out 
when the trap is opened. (Plate 2, Fig. 2.) This nest is very sim- 






Plate 1. Four views of the Improved New York Trap Xest placed under the roosting 
device. Fig. 1 shows the nest removed; Fig. 2 the method of placing axle wire and 
also of removing the perches; Fig. 3 the drawer principle of placing the nest, and Fig. 
4 shows the nesting and roosting arrangement complete with a hen entering the nest. 



pie to operate. The fact that the trap in front is closed shows the 
attendant that there is a hen in he nest. (Plate 2, Fig. 4.) When 
he removes the hen he has reset the nest. The trap, being of galvan^ 
ized iron, does not offer a very inviting place for the hens to loaf, 
and so does away almost entirely with the possibility of more than 
one hen entering the nest. (Plate 2, Fig. 1.) 

When the nests are put under the droppings board, the floor 



19 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIX 

comes under the nest part only. (Plate 1, Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4.) This 
is to keep any straw from getting under the trap and preventing it 
from working easily. The nests are built in secitions without top or 
bottom, and are slid in underneath the trap parts, much on the same 
principle as a table drawer. (Plate 1, Fig. 3.) 

The wall nests are placed on brackets or are screwed to the wall 
through the back of the nests. The tops are made slanting to pre- 
vent the fowls from roosting on them. The bottoms are made of 
one-half inch mesh galvanized hardware cloth, which goes under the 
nest parts only, the end sought being a nest with as few places as 
possible for mites to breed and that is self-cleaning. This is an 
experiment that is giving satisfactory results. 

The dimensions given for the nests (Plates 1 and 2) are for 
Leghorn fowls. To use these nests with larger breeds, it would be 
necessary only to widen the opening at the entrance (Plate 2, Fig. 4) 
one inch and to lengthen the front of the trap (Plate 2, Fig. 4B) one 
inch. 

Prof. James E. Rice, instructor in Poultry Husbandry at Cor- 
nell University, says trap-nests are indispensable for investigational 
and instructional purposes, and for persons who desire to sell pedi- 
greed stock and eggs for hatching. 

The labor involved in collecting the eggs many times a day, 
keeping the record of each hen, hatching with pedigree trays, toe- 
marking and leg-banding the chickens, requires more exacting work 
and close attention to detail than most poultrymen at the present 
time would care to undertake, even though the reward may be great 
in the building up of a strain of heavy producers. 

For the poultryman or farmer who does not care to sell pedi- 
greed stock, but who desires to increase the laying capacity of his 
fowls by breeding from the most productive, the plan is suggested of 
trap-nesting each year the choicest pullets for the first six months or 
more of their first laying year. From these select the most produc- 
tive pullets to be used as breeders the following year, that is, when 
they are two years old from the shell. It has been found that pullets 
show early in life their egg-laying capacity, so much that pullets of 
the same age and variety given smaller care, that lay the largest 
number of eggs during their first year from the egg, will, in all 
probability, be the most prolific individuals in the flock. This method 

20 



HOW 



TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 



will do away with trap-nesting the entire year and will permit the 
record making to be done during the six months, approximately, 
October, November, December, January, February, and March, 
when the time can best be spared on a general or on a poultry farm. 

For the poultryman, however, who is adapted to the work and 
who will trap-nest conscientiously and continuously, and who will 
breed intelligently, we think there is large reward. The reward will 
come first by increasing the yield per hen and thereby the profits for 




• n 




Plate 2. tour views of the Improved New York Trap Nest placed on a wall bracket 
Fig 1 shows nests both open and closed with hen ready to be released; Fig. 2 ^ shows 
method of removal of hen; Fig. 3 how the hen enters the trap; Fig. 4 the inc.me cover 
lifted for removal of hen or for cleaning. 

commercial egg production, and. second, by the production of pedi- 
greed stock for breeding purposes and eggs for hatching. The 
latter will require, in addition to the special knowledge of how to 
feed, house, trap-nest and to breed poultry in order to secure large 
production and vigorous stock, a special training and adaptability in 
selling in order to place the product before the buying public. This 
means skillful advertising. It will require time and skill, but we 
think it will pay both in financial reward and in the satisfaction of 
having contributed something toward the up-building of a superior 

21 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

strain of poultry and setting a notch higher the standard of perfec- 
tion in egg production. The trap nest has an intellectual as well as a 
financial incentive. 

AFTER INSTALLING THE NEST. 

After the trap nests are installed each female should be leg 
banded and a record kept of her age, number, weight and Standard 
points — if you are to include fine feathers in your breeding opera- 
tions. Every breeder should have a copy of the American ''Standard 
of Perfection," a book which may be purchased of any of the poul- 
try journals, and which contains a description of all the varieties of 
poultry and illustrations of the leading ones, both male and female. 
About the best education a beginner can secure is to visit a poultry 
show, and there compare the different varieties side by side. He 
might study the Standard year after year and still not be able 
to tell whether a bird was a good specimen or a poor one. This is 
apparently an incongruity after telling a person to buy a " Standard, ,r 
and then telling them that it is impossible to know a good bird from 
a poor one. But the truth of this assertion lies in the fact that the 
eyes is the only true indicator of shape and color. Then another 
factor is the unfortunate difference in opinion of judges in regard 
as to the interpretation of the descriptions in the "Standard. 5 ' And it 
must be admitted that this is a condition much to be regretted. 

The best time to secure the stock is in the fall, say September 
to December, then you will be able to get a line on the females as 
to winter egg production. It is worthy to note here that the pullets 
that do not lay at least 50 per cent during December and January 
will never be steady layers at any other season of the year, save 
possibly when eggs are very low in price, but for best results they 
should be discarded from all future breeding operations. 

Considerable discussion has been rife concerning the 200 egg 
hen, and even some men who should know better have been led to 
the extreme of stating that the men now engaged in breeding a 200 
egg strain were "200 egg liars," but the facts in the case are that 
the 200 egg hen is an actuality and when properly bred and fed can 
be reproduced in no uncertain manner. But when you see the ad- 
vertisement of a 200 egg strain you can make up your mind that 
the writer of the ad. is not unwilling to strain a point in favor of 

?? 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

his own particular brand of misrepresentation in order to separate 
you from your hard earned money. Two hundred eggs is a very 
high record and one that is not likely to be reached by large flocks, 




MISS BOB WHITE. 

Egg record, 228 in one year; 160 eggs second year. Dam of first cockerel and cockerel special, 

Bradford, 1906, also winner of first cock, 1907. Dam of second cockerel, Bradford, 

1907. Dam of hen No. 33, 211 eggs; hen No. 31, 209 eggs; hen No. 39, 

172 eggs; hen No. 313, 196 eggs; hen No. 331, 206 eggs; hen No. 

314, 202 eggs. Photo taken during breeding season. Note 

the long body and immense capacity for egg organs. 

Score in competition, 93 J4. 

but in order to have some recognized standard of performance 200 
was taken as the mark of a standard performer in the same manner 
as 2 :30 was taken as the time of a standard horse. 



23 



PEDIGREE BREEDING 

The object in pedigreeing any animal is the advantage gained 
in knowing the real producers, and the rules of breeding hold true 
whether you are working with chickens, cattle, horses or hogs. 

Pedigree breeding consists essentially in knowing the sire and 
dam (^father and mother) of each and every chick. It is not pos- 
sible to pedigree-breed by any other method than by the trap nest, 
unless one just mates pairs of birds and this is not practicable in any 
extensive breeding operations. Pedigreeing from pens is not pedi- 
gree breeding, strictly speaking, any more than colts bred from a 
bunch of wild horses would be called pedigree bred. 

The first step necessary is to trap nest the layers and, as each 
has its individual leg band, to mark this number on the egg when 
taken from the nest. In each pen there should be a record sheet 
having the numbers of all the hens in the pen marked on the left 
hand side, and the days of the month written across the top. By 
drawing lines clear across the paper both ways it makes a small 
square for each day opposite each hen's number. When you have 
six or seven eggs from this one hen they should be set under a 
separate hen, or in a separate tray in the incubator. Or seven eggs 
from two hens may be set under one hen and on the eighteenth 
day all the eggs from one hen of the same number are removed un- 
der another hen. In this way you will always know the mother 
of the chick, and the "hen that lays the egg is invariably the mother 
of the chick." 

As soon as the chicks are well dried off and before they and 
their mother are taken from the nests the chicks should be toe- 
marked or leg banded, or both. The method of toe-marking is to 
punch a small hole in the web of the foot between the toes — keeping 
a record of which punch marks belong to each particular hen. All 
the chicks in one season from each individual hen should be punched 
in the same web, or webs, as follows : 



1 


A 


A 


9 


A 


A 


2 


A 


A 


10 


/h 


A 


3 


A 


A 


11 


A 


A 


4 


A 


A 


12 


A 


A 


5 


A 


A 


13 


A 


A 


6 


A 


A 


14 


A 


A 


7 


A 


A 


15 


A 


A 


8 


A 


A 


16 


A 


A 



24 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

Another method, and the one used where more than sixteen 
breeders are used is to mark the chicks when taken from the nest 
with "open pigeon bands." These bands may be secured from any 
leg band maker. This is by all means the best way to mark them as 
it does not disfigure the feet and there is no danger of losing your 
record by reason of the holes growing shut which often happens 
in toe-marking, unless the chicks are carefully watched and the 
holes kept open. The chicks' pedigrees are kept like this : 



Hatched 




(234 


March 15 


Sire 777 


150 

[209 eggs 


120 




130 






140 


Dam 72 


f 


150 


Record 


{267 


160 


205 eggs 


[228 eggs 



"FEEDING THE CHICKS" 

No other one element is so closely related to the success or 
failure of the prospective poultry keeper as the feeding of the chicks. 
Many persons have the ability to successfully hatch the chicks, 
but the real test of a poultryman is the degree of success that at- 
tends his efforts to start them growing. 

The subject is not so full of terrors as one may be led to be- 
lieve from the above statement, but when a person without previous 
experience begins to deal with chickens the first impression is that 
he is dealing with something that needs coddling and nursing and 
all sorts of dope and coses to make it unwell even if it is naturally 
strong and healthy. And a chick that is hatched from sturdy par- 
ents can stand almost any amount of neglect and still make rapid 
growth, provided it has a fairly constant and reasonably nutritious 
supply of food. The greatest factor about the whole subject is to 
mix a little common sense with the feed. Feed any time after 
twenty- four hours old. For the first feed give bread crumbs, pre- 
ferably from bread several days old, just barely moistened with 
fresh milk, three times a day for a week. This is not to be 
their whole feed, however, for it is necessary to provide some hard 
grains, not alone for their feeding value but for the benefit of giving 
the chick the exercise essential to keep it growing and in good health. 

25 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

It makes no material difference whether the moist food is fed in 
the morning or whether they are started on the hard grains, as a 
morning appetizer. But I have always used the bread crumbs as 
the first feed, being careful not to feed more than they will eat up 
clean in 5 or 10 minutes (depending on how often they are fed and 
the best way is to feed little and often,' then the next feed is the 
hard grains scattered in a little cut straw. But it will be found 
profitable to feed every two hours the first week, alternating the 
moist and dry feed. For the hard grains there is absolutely nothing 
better than the old fashioned steel-cut oat meal; this is beyond any 
doubt the one best feed for chicks the first three weeks. It is un- 
derstood that there are some very good foods among the prepared 
chick foods, and they will be found to give good satisfaction, and 
even with the oat meal will form a pleasing addition to the variety 
essential in any ration in order to secure the maximum results in 
growth and good health. It should be borne in mind that the straw 
for litter should not be over one inch deep the first week. 

The essential feature in any ration for young chicks is that 
the feeder himself should have the common sense to know when 
the chicks were well fed or poorly fed. It, of course, must be ad- 
mitted that there is no set rule so sufficiently mechanical that it can 
be written out and a magnificent success made with it from the 
start. The successful feeding of the chicks, in the strictest sense, 
is a matter only learned by years of close observation, and it is a 
fact easily verified by the older breeders that the form and shape of 
a bird is materially made better or worse according to the actual 
variation in the nutritive values of the ration. There is also a dif- 
ference noticeable in the growth of birds of two different strains. 
This is proven that if fowls have been reared for a number of 
years under conditions nearly ideal, and are moved along side of 
fowls that have been poorly nourished for a like period, the fowls 
that have had the results of the superior care will grow faster,, 
thereby making better use of the same amounts of food than the 
fowls kept under the uncongenial conditions, though each may have 
originally eminated from the same source. If there was no other 
reason for keeping pure-bred birds than this one, it is, in itself one 
of the greatest arguments for keeping fowls of known purity of 
blood. 

Now there is a vast amount of difference in raising chicks in 

26 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

January or in June, and the breeder who does not take into consid- 
eration the vital differences will never reach the greatest success with 
the chicks of either period. The early chicks of January, February 

and March come into the world at an unnatural period and there- 
fore, must have to a certain extent, unnatural conditions under 
which to thrive. If one element more than any other is essential 
in the growth of the early chicks it is exercise. In the operations 
of the writer these early chicks have much the same care as the 
later ones, except that more care is given that they are never over- 
fed, especially during the first week. After the first week one of the 
pens in the brooder house, 5 by 11 feet, is swept clean and a thick 
layer of the cut oat meal and prepared chick food is scattered over 
the floor. On top of this is spread about one inch of fine cut straw y 
and again on top of this another layer of the feed, then a layer of 
straw until the whole floor is covered to a depth of five or six inches, 
and the litter contains 12 or 15 pounds of the grains. Here the week 
old chicks are placed and it will be surprising how soon they will 
learn to scratch clear down to the floor in search for the grains. 
At times they will be nearly buried out of sight in the litter, and 
the growth is certainly fine. After the second week a small plate is 
put in the pen and a little of the very best beef scrap, such as costs 
about $6.00 a hundred is put on the plates every other day. In self 
feeding hoppers along the sides of the pen is placed fine charcoal, 
sifted oyster shells, chick grit and fine granulated bone. This is 
kept there from the first and care taken never to have the supply 
run out. This plan has been tried experimentally with different 
pens of Plymouth Rocks, Leghorns, and Wyandottes side by side 
with pens hopper fed on the same rations and in every instance the 
growth of the chicks fed in litter was from 15 to 20 per cent fastel 
than the chicks hopper fed. In fact, the results were so conclusive 
that the hopper feeding has been replaced by the one feeding a 
week on many practical and fancy plants. After this litter is re- 
moved it is thrown into the laying pens where every kernel of grain 
is worked out. The whole system set down here revolves around 
the fact that the success of winter chick rearing depends on exercise,, 
more than any system of feeding. The great advantage apparent 
from following the above plan is the amount of labor it saves where 
many chicks are reared, and the very satisfactory growth also com- 

27 ■ 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

mends it to fanciers who only raise a few birds, but who desire 
to secure the best growth and largest size. 

The process as has been outlined will solve the problem of 
raising the extra early chicks, now for the later ones. It is easily 
recognized by every one that the late chicks come into the world 
at the time nature intended them to and therefore nature has pro* 
vided many, and in fact, all the conditions necessary for the most 
rapid growth. These later chicks, if given unlimited range, may be 
largely neglected, so far as food goes and still make a reasonable 
amount of growth, but the down-to-date poultryman is looking for 
the conditions that hasten this development in the most favorable 




The free range where chickens get plenty of exercise and green food on clean land, at 

Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 

manner and consequently he hastens to provide in liberal quantities 
all the various food that promote the most profitable growth. But 
the writer has always advocated unlimited supply of green food 
for all growing chicks, as well as lots of shade, for the late ones. 
The green food should be lettuce, rape, young beet tops, or fresh 
lawn clippings and if one has not been in the habit of supplying any 
or all of these he will be astonished how much a hundred chicks will 
consume every day, and will also notice a diminishing in the amount 
of grain food eaten. 

28 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

All my chicks are carried along the first week on the same 
rations, those with mothers that are hatched in April or early May 
are given a separate coop with a large outside run and are hopper 
fed after the first week. They now receive the necessary exercise in 
another way but it serves the same purpose. Do not forget to feed 
these youngsters all the tender green stuff that they will eat because 
the chicks cannot pull the old tough grass and will not eat nearly as 
much of it as they do of the green truck, even though their yards 
be well covered with grass. 



29 



DRY MASH AND THE WET MASH 

Much has been written for and against both systems of feeding, 
and, like a good many things that are advocated as "one of the 
greatest discoveries of modern times," neither system has the ad- 
vantage of a combination of the two. And in the same line of thought 
neither method is as modern as some of the so-called originators 
would have us believe. As an illustration of this, I was talking to 
my father one day about the new method of feeding and he remarked 
that in 1870 he fed the chicks of his employer by dumping a sack 
of whole corn, one of wheat, and one of oats in different boxes 
near the henhouse and that this was the only method of feeding 
practiced, and it produced eggs. 

In regard to the relative values of the dry and wet mashes as 
a system of feeding it is now admitted by the best authorities on 
the subject that a rational combination of the two will produce the 
most satisfactory results. There is no doubt that the birds can be 
induced to eat a larger amount of the wet mash, but the objection to 
this is that it is very apt to produce a diseased condition of the liver. 
Those who have practiced both methods are emphatic in pronounc- 
ing that the largest birds are grown on a combination of the wet 
and dry mashes. It is a well known fact that the more feed 
a bird can be induced to eat in combination with a reasonable amount 
of exercise the larger it will grow and the more quickly will it reach 
maturity. It is the practice of the writer to feed bread and 
milk for the first three or four weeks. After this the bread and milk 
is gradually displaced by a mixture of two parts, by weight, of good 
clean bran, two parts of corn meal, one part middlings, or "red dog 
flour," and one part sifted fine beef scraps. This is used as a wet 
mash and is mixed with a little skimmed milk or water until it 
crumbles readily. It will not take very much to make it sticky and 
this is to be carefully avoided as it has a tendency to loosen the 
bowels excessively. Rub the mixture with the back of a spoon until 
it is moistened all through — not wet — and there is no danger in 
feeding it. This mash is fed twice a day until the birds are six 
or seven weeks old. I would caution you especially about having 
the mash correctly made in order to avoid any bowel trouble, not 

30 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

that there is any danger in feeding it when correctly made. The 
chicks are carried along on this in connection with the hard grains 
in the hoppers. In the morning I place the mash on open plates 
only feeding as much as they will clean up in five or ten minutes. 
The amount can be judged quite accurately after feeding a few 
times. The plates are then removed and cleaned. In the evening all 
the mash is given that they will eat. It is important that the food 
left over is removed at once as it sours quickly and then becomes 
a source of danger. 

AFTER SIX WEEKS OLD 

At this age the cockerels and pullets are separated, and also 
the cockerels to be marketed and those to be kept for breeders. 




II 



J 



A row of Colony Houses at State College of Agriculture (Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.) 

The breeding cockerels and pullets are put in open front colony 
houses on free range, or in very large yards, and are divided into 
flocks of 25 each. The feed is now gradually changed from the moist 
mash to the dry mash fed in hoppers and kept before them all the 
time. This is made up of one part wheat bran, by weight, to two 
parts corn meal, one part middlings and one part beef scraps. In 
addition to this cracked corn, wheat, beef scraps, cracked bone, oyster 
shell, grit and charcoal are kept before them in self feeding hoppers 



31 



HOW" TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIX 

all the time. It will be found that they do not stand around the 
troughs and gorge themselves but take a mouthful at a time and 
go ranging over the fields, only coming back to the hoppers when 
hungry. 

The object in feeding in this manner is to save labor, and it 
can be appreciated that where the feeding may be done once a 
week by a man and a horse, it is much easier and cheaper than to 
make from three to five trips a day over the whole plant. The re- 
sults from this method of feeding are as satisfactory as under any 
method of hand feeding, and this should commend it to every poul- 
try keeper who raises a few chickens as a little diversion and does 
not have the time to be at home every time it is necessary for them 
to be fed. 

The cockerels to be kept for breeders are fed in much the same 
manner as the pullets, only more feed must be provided. The cock- 
erels to be marketed are put in a house about 9 by 11 feet in size, with 
a yard 20 feet square around each house, 20 cockerels in a house. 
They are fed on a wet mash made of 100 pounds of wheat mid- 
dlings, 100 pounds of corn meal and 40 pounds of meat meal. This" 
is given as a porridge thick enough to drop but not run from a spoon. 
The following observations from the Maine Station bulletin are 
well founded : "Four weeks is about the limit of profitable feeding, 
both individually and in flocks. Chickens gain faster while young. 
Birds 150 to 175 days old give comparatively small gains. The 
practice of successful poultrymen selling chickens at the earliest 
marketable age is well founded. By using skim milk in mixing 
the porridge, instead of water, 4.3 pounds of grain were required to 
make 1 pound of gain, against 5.3 pounds of grain when mixed with 
water. 

HATCHING THE CHICKS 

These different phases of poultry keeping are so closely and so 
intimately connected that it is a very difficult matter to assume where 
one subject begins and another leaves off, however, the different 
chapters will follow each other in as rational a sequence as possible. 
We have already given onr views on feeding the chicks. 

It is an axiom appreciated by every experienced poultryman 
that a chick "well hatched is half raised/' and as the beginner gains 

32 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

in experience he will be more able to accept this assertion as the 
truth. It is truly wonderful how a chick that has been 
properly hatched from strong and sturdy parents will grow and 
thrive even in the coldest weather and under conditions that would 
kill a chick improperly hatched in one day. In this struggle of 
nature there is a constant selection of the well and fit being made 
and often it appears that an especially good bird from the stand- 
point of form and feathers is a little backward in growth, or is in 
need of special care in the matter of housing and feed. The out- 
come is usually this: The bird being so fine is used for a breeder 
and this apparent weakness is really a constitutional defect which 
is bred into the flock and as a result the whole strain is weakened. 
The chicks are weak when hatched and never grow as strong and 
and healthy as a youngster should. As a result they are coddled and 
nursed to a doubtful maturity, and in turn the breeders are selected 
for their form and color instead of their health and vigor. The 
results of this sort of selection are evident to any careful observer-, 
and it is stock of this kind and eggs from such parents that the 
buying public are yearly fleeced of thousands of dollars in good hard 
earned money. We do not believe that this sort of selection is 
practiced by the old and experienced breeders as much as by the- 
young and unknowing ones who are willing to chance a questionable 
mating thinking that it will turn out all right. 

It is reasonable that nature should have first call in hatching 
and brooding the choicest youngsters, and it is also true that taking 
the average of results the hen is far superior to an incubator as a 
producer of the largest percentage of strong, livable chicks. As a 
brooder I have always ha \ better success in raising them by arti- 
ficial means. I do not say that an incubator cannot hatch as many 
chicks as a battery of setting hens — when the incubator is run under 
perfectly normal conditions — but there is the rub — to always oper- 
ate the machine so that the eggs are incubated under perfectly normal 
conditions for the entire 21 days. Here is where the machine falls 
far behind the old setter. 

Provided you have a fairly representative specimen of a cluck- 
ing hen you can trust a setting of costly eggs to her with far more 
assurance of securing an equal number of chicks than you have 
with the same quality of eggs entrusted to an incubator. L T nder 

33 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIX 

the setting hen your eggs have no chance of being overheated 
or a thousand and one things that are possible and probable to 
happen to your incubator. Of course, where a large number of 
eggs are incubated it becomes, necessary to depend on other than 
the natural means of hatching, and this is possible with almost any 
of the improved patterns of mechanical hatchers on the market to- 
day. Of course the incubator manufacturers will come forward 
with a large batch of statistics and well meant testimonials to prove 
that the writer is leading you astray by advising that for the best 
results with fine stock or costly eggs is to stick to the old setting 
hen both for the incubator and for the brooder. I am willing to 
admit that hundreds of prize winners are hatched artificially and 
brooded by a wooden hen, and I still contend, with thousands of 
other breeders that the same chickens naturally hatched would have 
been finer specimens. Right here- I want to say that the most im- 
portant development in artificial incubation in recent years is the 
application of the sand tray to the aid of the machine hatcher. The 
chicks hatched from a sand trav incubator are not only heavier 
when hatched but. are covered with a longer, thicker 'fluff, are 
stronger and far more vigorous than any I have ever seen taken 
from a dry air machine. 

In operating the incubator there are a few "first aids to the 
amateur" to be considered. The maker of the machine of whatever 
particular make, will furnish you with certain fundamental rules 
which ought to be closely observed. The machine must set level. 
Do not run any machine with the thermometer hanging up unless 
you use two in the machines, one hanging and the other on the 
eggs. Set the incubator in a cellar, preferably. Use the very best 
oil. Run first week (with lay down tMlrmometer) at 102 degrees; 
second week at I02y 2 degrees; third week at 103 degrees. This 
is the temperature that it is advisable to maintain in a cellar where 
it will average 50 to 60 degrees. When the weather is warmer and 
the cellar is not lower than 70 degrees the machine should be oper- 
ated at 101, 102, 102^2 degrees the first, second and third weeks, 
respectively. (This is with the thermometer on the eggs.) It 
should be remembered that the first few days of incubation are the 
vital ones and the temperature should not be allowed to go very 
much over 103 degrees, and should be held as near to 101 or 102 
degrees as possible. 

34 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

I would advise anyone who has one of the hot air type of in- 
cubators to try the plan of the sand tray machines, at least, in an 
experimental way. This consists in placing a tray that is about 
one-half inch deep under the Qgg tray, and keeping it nearly full 
of sand. This sand is kept constantly wet throughout the entire 
hatch, up until the eighteenth day, when it is removed. Anyone who 
has never tried this method will be agreeably surprised at the size 
and vigor of the chicks. The last word that the writer has to offer 
on the subject of hatching is for the operator of the machine or of 
the setting hen, to let both very much alone until it becomes abso- 
lutely necessary to readjust the thermometer, or wash the eggs, 
or some such positive action. Don't monkey with the regulator just 
because the heat isn't within one-half a degree of what it was before 
you turned the eggs, and don't lift up the old setter while the chicks 
are coming out just to see if they are really there. Both opera- 
tions are conductive to no good. 

FEEDING THE HENS 

It is to be remembered that egg production is not at all a mat- 
ter of breed or variety. It is first of all a matter of feed, then a 
matter of care and finalh r a matter of strain. 

The best laying strain of chickens in the world if put into 
uncongenial quarters, fed unwholesome food and given indifferent 
care will deteriorate into fowls perhaps more profitable than the 
former flock of mongrels kept under like conditions. The reason 
for this is very plain inasmuch as the highly productive fowl is the 
result of years of careful feeding, more careful breeding and sys- 
tematic selection. The mongrels having become used to inferior 
care and feeding have reached the level only possible under such 
conditions and being maintained as such for a series of generations 
have ceased to be nourished into a state of productiveness. The 
writer does not argue that mongrels are not profitable in some cases, 
but the difficulty is apparent w T hen one begins to breed for im- 
provement. The multiplicity of ancestors which may exceed 2,000 
in the ten previous generations makes profitable improvement an 
endless and unprofitable task. Whereas, if pure bred birds are 
given the same care and general treatment that made this flock of 
mongrels productive the results would have been very much more 

35 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

profitable, and improvement by selection of breeders merely a mat- 
ter of care in mating. 

Good layers is not a question of breed, nor a question of 
variety — but entirely a question of strain. I. K. Felch's strain of 
Light Brahmas have egg records that would put to shame some of 
the best bred and much touted heavy laying White Leghorns — its 
merely what the man behind the hens breeds them for — eggs, meat, 
feathers, or all three. 

As so much importance is attached by all straightforward 
breeders to the feeding in' addition to the breeding it behooves one 
to study this matter at length and also to apply earnestly his best 
powers of knowledge and observation in order to produce a satis- 
factory supply of eggs. 

As the chicks have been well fed during their entire youth, they 
should come into laying well developed in size, and in such condition 
as to put forth an abundance of nice, large eggs during the entire 
winter. 

Now that they are in laying shape the yield of eggs should be 
practically continuous, and if they have the inheritance of well 
bred "bred-to-lay" parentage ; have been normally hatched ; have 
been normally brooded; have had an abundance of sound, clean 
feel of the correct sorts; if they are now fed with more common 
sense than corn, they will lay and keep at it. 

The regular laying ration is made up, by weight, of 200 pounds 
of wheat bran, 100 each of corn meal, middlings, gluten food and 
beef scrap, and of 50 pounds of linseed meal. If this amount of 
linseed makes the bowels too loose reduce the amount until the 
bowels become normal. This is mixed* up in a trough, with a 
shovel, and carried in pails to each pen where it is kept before the 
hens at all times in self feeding hoppers. They do not like the dry 
mash well enough to eat too much of it, and you will alwavs find 
them rea^'y to scratch for a kernel of grain. 

The pens are kept well covered to a depth of six, eight or ten 
inches with clean oat straw, renewed every two weeks in winter 
and every four weeks in summer. In this straw is thrown for the 
morning feed four quarts of oats put to soak in boiling water and 
allowed to stand over night, or four quarts of sound, clean wheat. 
This is raked, forked or kicked well under the litter, an 1 the hens 

36 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

will soon be heard singing, scratching -and pecking — happy as can 
be — and these are the conditions which makes for us a full egg 
basket. At noon, every day, cabbage, carrots, beets, mangled wurt- 
zels, potato parings or steamed clover is fed- — a good liberal amount. 
About four o'clock in the afternoon four quarts of whole corn 
is fed in the litter. On excessively cold days the amount of corn is 
increased to 6 or 8 quarts for each hundred hens. 

The whole matter of feeding depends to a large extent upon 
the experience of the feeder.' A good feeder will know when the 
fowls are receiving the proper amount of the proper foods, not only 
by the eggs produced, but by observation and handling. Of course, 
when trap nests are used the breeder is brought into individual con- 
tact with practically every hen in the pen in the course of two days, 
and he, knowing the exact condition of each bird, can tell at oncf 
whether the feeding is correct or not. 

It is understood, of course, that oyster shells, grit, charcoal and 
beef scraps are to be kept in self feeding hoppers at all times and the 
supply never allowed to run out. While a great many people seem 
to have, when neglecting to provide any of these elements or at 
least say they have, good egg yields, it is nevertheless true that the 
greatest number of eggs will be produced and at least cost when 
the necessary egg forming elements are provided in the greatest 
abundance. 

With all that has been said and written about this matter of 
egg production it must be forcibly remembered that it depends as 
much on the element of exercise as upon the matter of any kind or 
condition of feed or feeding. Not that the hens will lay when under- 
fed, but this constant exercise will do much toward offsetting the 
dangers and bad habits incidental to overfeeding. 

The eggs depend more upon the head that carries the feed pail 
than upon what the pail contains. 



37 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING 'STRAIN 

HOUSING 

More attention has been paid of late years by all poultry keepers 
in securing comfortable quarters for their chickens. This endeavor 
lias taken rather radical grounds in comparison to the oft quoted 
adage "That poultry should be kept warm," inasmuch as the most 
practical houses of the present day represent a house that is little 
warmer than outdoors. 

The house in use by the writer is an adaption of the Cornell 
laying house, No. 1 shown here in the illustration. This house is 
built in units each twelve feet wide by sixteen feet deep, 5 feet 




1. Model Laying House for Poultry, advocated by the Department of Poultry Hus- 
bandry of the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University, Ithaca, 



N. Y. 

at the back and 8 feet in front ; in the front of each one are two win- 
dows each 4 feet, 6 inches long and 2 feet wide in two sashes. 
These windows are placed as close to the ends of each (one at each 
side) pen as the construction will allow. Three feet from the floor 
and between the two windows is a space two and one-half feet wide 
in which is fitted the muslin curtain. The frame for the curtain is 
made to fit closely in this opening, and swings in and fastens to the 
rafters when not in use. My frames are covered with the common 
six cent muslin. Do not buy the oiled muslin that is advertised for 
this purpose because the oiling defeats the object of the curtain. 

38 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

Along the back of the house and thirty inches from the floor 
is placed the dropping board. This is made of matched flooring 
and is 42 inches wide. On top of this, in swinging brackets, are two 
roosts, each ten feet long, made by planing the corners off 2 by 
4's and setting them on edge. The brackets are hinged at the back to 
swing up out of the way when cleaning the dropping board. In 
front of the dropping board is another cloth curtain which is 
fastened to the rafters and drops down fitting closely at the sides. 
This is only used when the temperature is likely to go down to 
zero, or close to it. In the writer's house the dropping board ex- 
tends the whole length of the pen, and the end not occupied by the 
roosts is used as a storage box for the winter's supply of road dust. 
It is handy to the dropping board and there is quite a saving of 
labor to have it in each pen. It is also available for the winter 
dust bath. 

Each pen is occupied by 25 hens or thirty pullets. Along one 
wall is placed a self feeding hopper six feet long and the dry mash 
is fed in this. Along the other wall are the shell boxes and beef 
scrap hopper. A battery of six trap nests is arranged under the 
dropping board at one end of the pen, two tiers high, and made to 
slide in and out like drawers. A solid board partition separates each 
pen. This is necessary in order to prevent draughts.. 

A great many people are skeptical as to the practicability of an 
open front house such as this in a cold climate, but the fact that 
this type of house has been adopted by practical poultry keepers in 
Maine, Minnesota, and even farther north in Canada, should be 
sufficient assurance that the house is the best one yet in actual use 
considering the many good features it contains. The writer lives 
on the summit of the Allegheny mountain range, and from practical 
experience with both the closed and open house, he has discarded all 
the houses of the closed type that it was impracticable to make into 
open front houses, and now uses them for other purposes. The 
birds are in far better health in open houses, the eggs hatch better, 
the chicks are stronger, the loses of layers are less, and a case of 
roup is, as yet. unknown in his flock. This is really a wonderful 
record considering the birds handled and raised yearly. 

The widespread adoption of the open front house is almost en- 
tirely due to the vast circulation of this type of house by the Maine 

39 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

Agricultural Experiment Station in its bulletins and also bulletin 
No. 90 of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry. For the 
benefit of readers who contemplate the erection of a large building 
for the accommodation of 500 layers or over, this house has many 
features that will especially recommend it to them. The only ob- 
jection I can see to this house is in the size of the pens. It is more 
profitable to keep the layers in smaller flocks than 100 in a pen, and 
for this reason I would suggest that the house be built not over 18 
feet deep and the pens each 16 feet wide. This size pen will ac- 
commodate 50 layers, and the profit will be greater than in the 100 
bird pens. 



THE LATEST FORM OF CURTAIN-FRONT HOUSE 

From bulletin No. 90, Bureau of Animal Industry: 

The description is here given as it represents the latest devel- 
opment of this style of house (pi. 3.) 

The house is 20 feet wide by 400 feet long, and is divided into 
20 sections, each being 20 feet square. It is on the same general 
plan as houses Nos. 1 and 2, just described, but house No. 1 is 
12 feet wide, house No. 2 16 feet wide, and this one 20 feet wide. 
The widths have been increased in the last two houses, as experi- 
ence has shown the advisability of it. At first it was thought the 
houses should be narrow so that they might dry out readily, but 
the 20- foot house dries out satisfactorily, as the opening in the 
front is placed high up so that the sun shines in on the floor to the 
back in the shortest winter days. 

The economy in the cost of the wide house over the narrow 
ones, when space is considered, is evident. The front and back walls 
in the narrow house cost about as much per lineal foot as those in 
the wide house, and the greatly increased floor space is secured by 
building in a strip of floor and roof running lengthwise of the 
building. The carrying capacity of a house 20 feet wide is 66 
per cent greater than that of a house 12 feet wide, and is secured by 
merely building additional floor and roof. The walls, doors and win- 
dows remain the same as in the narrow house, except that the front 
wall is made a little higher. Three sills which are 6 inches square 
run lengthwise of the house, the central one supporting the floor 
timbers in the middle. They rest on a rough stone wall, high enough 
from the ground for dogs to go under the building to look for rats 
and skunks that might incline to make their homes there. The stone 
wall rests on the surface of the ground, and there are openings 
in it like cellar windows every 20 feet to allow the air to draw 
through and keep the basement dry during the summer. The floor 
timbers are 2 by 8 inches in size and rest wholly on top of the sills. 
All the wall studs rest on the sills ; the front ones are 8 feet long 
and the back ones are 6 feet, 6 inches long. The two sides of the 
roof are unequal in width, the ridge being 8 feet from the front 
wall. The height of the ridge from the sill to the extreme top is 

42 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

12 feet, 6 inches. All studding is 2 by 4 inches in size and the rafters 
are 2 by 5 inches. The building is boarded with one inch boards, 
and is papered and shingled with good cedar shingles on walls and 
roof. The Moor is of two thicknesses of hemlock boards which 
break joints in the laying. 

The building is divided by tight board partitions into twenty 
sections, each section being twenty feet long. All the sections are 
alike in construction and arrangement. The front side of each sec- 
tion has two storm windows of 12 lights of 10 by 12 inch glass. 
These windows are screwed on upright and 2 feet 8 inches from the 
end of the room; they are three feet above the floor. The distance 
between the windows is 8 feet 10 inches and the top part of it to a 
depth of 3 feet 6 inches from the plate is not boarded but is left 
open to be covered by the cloth curtain when necessary. This 
leaves a tight wall three feet ten inches high extending from the bot- 
tom of the opening down to the floor, which prevents the wind from 
blowing directly on the birds when they are on the floor. A door 
is made in this part of the front wall for the attendant to pass 
through when the curtain is open. A door 16 inches high by 18 
inches wide is placed close to the floor under one of the windows 
for the birds to pass through to the yards in front. A similar door 
is in the center of the back wall to admit them to the rear yard when 
it is used. 

A light frame made of 1 by 3 inch pine strips and 1 by 6 inch 
crossties is covered with 10-ounce white duck and hinged at the top 
of the front opening, which it covers when closed down. The curtain 
is easily turned up into the room, where it is caught and held 
by swinging hooks until released. 

The roost platform is made tight and extends along the whole 
length of the room against the back wall. It is 4 feet 10 inches wide 
and 3 feet above the floor, being high enough for a person to get 
under it comfortably when necessary to catch or handle the birds. 
There are three roosts framed together in two 10- foot sections. 
The tops of the roosts are 1 foot above the platform and hinged to 
the back wall so they may be turned up out of the way when the 
platform is being cleaned. The back roost is 12 inches from the wall 
and the spaces between the next two are 16 inches. They are made 
of 2 by 3 inch spruce lumber placed on edge with the upper corners 

44 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

rounded off. The roosting closet is shut off from the rest of the 
room by curtains similar to the one described above. For con- 
venience in handling there are two of these curtains, each 10 feet 
long. They are 3 feet wide and are hinged at the top so as to be 
turned out and hooked up. The space above this curtain is ceiled and 
in it are two openings each 3 feet long and 6 inches wide for venti- 
lating the roosting closet when necessary. In every compartment 
there is a door placed 5 inches out from the edge of the roost plat- 
form. These doors are three feet wide and seven feet high, 
divided in the middle lengthwise, and each half is hung with double- 
acting spring hinges allowing it to swing open both ways and close. 
Ten nests are placed in two tiers against the partition in each 
end of the room. They are of ordinary form, each nesting space 







Interior of Curtain Front Pou.try House shown in Plate No. 3. 

being 1 foot wide, 1 foot high and 1 foot long, with the entrances 
near the partition away from the light, ami with hinged covers in 
front for the removal of eggs. Each section of five nests can be 
taken out without disturbing anything else, cleaned and returned. 
In constructing the house it was designed to use these nests only 
during the present year. The framework where 'they rest was ar- 
ranged for the use of trap nests, the intention now being to install 
them in October of the present year. 

45 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

Troughs similar to those described on page 24 are used for 
feeding dry mash, shell, bone, grit and charcoal. 

Two lines of 4 by 4 inch spruce are arranged as an elevated track 
above the doors. The track extends the entire length of the build- 
ing, and being faced with narrow steel bands on top, .a suspended 
car is easily pushed along even when heavily loaded. The car plat- 
form is 2 by 8 feet in size, and is elevated a foot above the floor. 
All feed and water are carried through the building on this car. 
Ten iron baskets into which the accumulations on the roost platforms 
are cleaned every morning, are put on the car and collections are 
made as the car passes on through the pens to the end of the building, 
400 feet away where the roost cleanings are dumped into the manure 
shed. As the car is pushed along a guard at the front end comes in 
contact with the doors and pushes them open, and they remain open 
until the car has passed on, when the spring hinges force them to 
close again. This car is a great saver of labor as it does away 
with nearly all carrying by the workmen. It has enabled one man to 
take good care of the 2,000 hens from November to March, except 
on Saturdays, when the litter has been removed and renewed by 
other men. 

At one end of the building there is a temporary feed and water 
house, also used for dish washing and scalding, where the car re- 
mains when not in use. 

There is a walk outside of the building extending along its en- 
tire front. It is 14 feet wide, made of 2-inch planking, and is elevated 
2 feet above the floor of the building, which allows the doors below 
it, through which the birds pass to the front yards, to be opened and 
closed without interference. The door which opens out of each room 
through the curtain section is above the outside walk and necessi- 
tates stepping up or down when passing through, which is not a 
very serious objection, as the door is used but little in the daily work, 
but mostly in the weekly cleaning out and renewing of the floor 
litter. A guard of wire poultry netting 1 foot wide, along the out- 
side of the walk prevents the bird from flying upon the walk. 



46 



BREEDING FOR EGGS 

From early times man has bred and propagated forms of animal 
life that they might be of use to him in some economic manner, but 
the science of breeding, as we understand it, is of comparatively re- 
cent origin, and the greatest strides in propagating useful forms and 
varieties of animals may be traced to the period within the last 
100 years, and even the greatest specialization has taken place within 
the last half century. Considering these facts it is not remarkable 
that the knowledge of authentic origin concerning the means of im- 
provement of live stock breeding should be of rather meagre cir- 
culation. It is an interesting but unfortunate circumstance that 
what knowledge was obtained by the earliest investigators was 
not handed down to the later breeders in any satisfactory manner. 
This was due to the fact that each one was working practically 
alone and there was no standard for breeding the different animals, 
due to the lack of an efficient organization. Some of the far seeing 
breeders in certain localities, seeing that more rapid advance could 
be made by banding together, formed local societies which gathered 
and discussed the relative merits of the different and many times, 
individual specimens. These men, having no rules to guide them, 
were led along by observation and performance as their only guides. 

They were not long in discovering that certain individual animals 
had the power to transmit their desirable features to their offspring 

in greater certainty than certain other animals of the same identical 

breeding, It was natural that as they were looking for improvement, 

they should use these animals for breeders that produced the stock 

nearest approaching the desired object; whether milk, meat or 

size. 

It is not necessary for us to follow up the long period of in- 
vestigation and research that has given to us the laws of breeding. 
Prof. Brewer of Yale has formulated the laws of breeding which 
govern the improvement of live stock as follows : 

1. Every animal must have two parents, and every animal 
resembles its parents and ancestors in most of its characteristics. 
There is a force or tendency to keep offspring like their parents, or 
descendants like their ancestors. This is called "the law of hered- 
ity" or "like produces like." 

47 



HOAY TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIX 

2. Xo two animals are alike or identical in all respects, hence 
offspring are never precisely like their ancestors. This is known 
as the "law of variation" and is the complement of the first law. 

3. Vastly more animals are produced than are needed for 
breeding, hence those having or transmitting the highest aggregate 
of good points should be used to breed from. This is called "se- 
lection.'' 

4. By training, environment and by selection in mating the 
form may be modified and the relative value of the various points 
or characters changed so as to better suit the uses or fancy of the 
breeder. This is called "breeding to points." 

5. By continued breeding to points the characters may be in- 
creased beyond what they were in their ancestors. This is called 
the "law of improvement." 

6. The more uniform the ancestry and character, and the 
more restricted in numbers, the more uniform and certain will the 
characters occur in the resulting descendants. 

In the laws set forth above the breeder will find one that 
covers every phase of stock breeding, insofar as the actual opera- 
tions of selection go. The two most important laws, if one can be 
of more importance than another, is the first law "like produces 
like" and the second law which is the converse of the first one "like 
produces unlike." 

Considering our work of breeding for egg production these 
are the two laws that are of vital consequence. The breeder who 
studies this matter thoroughly will find very little authoritative and 
definite information concerning the matter of securing an increased 
egg production through the practice of breeding. It is the purpose 
ot this book to shed the first definite light on the subject. 



METHODS OF BREEDING 

The methods of breeding most commonly applied to the pro- 
duction of live stock as designated by definite terms are as follows : 

1. Line -breeding. This means the breeding of a strain of 
animals which contain the blood of one animal in excess, and is 
generally worked out along a prearranged plan. This is graphically 
shown and explained by the Felch Breeding Chart, as follows : 




You may fail to see the meaning of the solid and dotted lines 
of the chart. To make it clear we say, each dotted line represents 

49 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING' STRAIN 

the female as having been selected from the upper group, while 
the solid line shows the male as having been taken from the indi- 
cated upper group. Each circle represents the progeny. To wit : 
female No. 1 mated with male No. 2 have produced group No. 3 
which is one-half the blood of sire and dam. 

Females from group No. 3 mated back to their own sire No. 2, 
have produced group No. 5, which is three-fourths of the blood of 
the sire, No. 2, and. one- fourth the blood of the dam, No. 1. 

A male from group No. 3, mated back to his own dam, No. 1, 
produces group No. 4, which is three-fourths the blood of the dam, 
1, and one- fourth the blood of the sire, No. 2. 

Again we select a cockerel from group No. 5 and a pullet from 
group No. 4, of vice versa, which will produce group No. 7, which 
is mathematically half the blood of each of the original pair, No. 1 
and No. 2. This is a second step toward producing a new strain. 

Females from No. 5 mated back to the original male, No. 2, 
produce group No. 8, that are seven-eighths the blood of No. 2, and a 
cockerel from No. 4 mated back to the original dam, No. 1, pro- 
duces group No. 6 that is seven-eighths of the blood of the original 
dam and only one-eighth the blood of the original sire. 

Again we select a male from No. 8 and females from No. 6 and 
for a third time produce chicks (in group No. 11) that are half 
the blood of the original pair. This is the third step and the ninth 
mating in securing complete breeding of our new strain. In all this 
we have not broken the line of sires, for every one has come from 
a group in which the preponderance of blood was that of the original 
sire. Nos. 2, 8, 13 and 18 are virtually the blood of No. 2. 

We have reached a point where we would establish a male 
line whose blood is virtually that of our original dam, and we now 
select from No. 6 a male which we mate with a female from No. 
4 and produce group No. 9, which is 13-16 of the blood of the origi- 
nal dam, No. 1 and 3-16 of the blood of the original sire. 

Again we select a male from No. 9 and a female of the new 
strain, No. 11, and produce group No. 14, which becomes 21-32 of 
the blood of the original dam, thus preserving her strain of blood. 

A male from No. 13, which is 13-16 the blood of the original 
sire No. 2, mated to females from No. 10, which are 5-16 the blood 
of the original sire, No. 2, gives us group No. 17, which is 9-16 the 
blood of said sire. 

50 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

While in No. 16 we have the new strain and in No. 18 the 
strain of our original sire, No. 2, we have three distinct strains, and 
by and with this systematic use we can go on breeding for all time 
to come. Remember that each dotted line is a female selection and 
each solid line the male selection. 

Before going farther it may be said that this is the system 
used by the author in building up his heavy laying strain. A very 
prepotent (the ability to transmit in marked degree) hen formed the 
foundation of his line, and the flock was line-bred until her blood 
predominates throughout the flock. 

2. Inbreeding. This is understood by the majority of breed- 
ers to mean the mating together of close relations, some authorities 
holding that it only means the mating of father and daughter, and 
brother and sister, while others claim that it takes in the relationship 
as distant as cousins. It is generally held to mean only the closest 
relationship mention. 

3. Out-breeding. This means the introduction of males or fe- 
males from a totally different strain. 

4. Cross-breeding. This means the breeding together of dif- 
ferent varieties or different breeds of previously pure-bred animals. 



51 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING* STRAIX 

APPLICATION OF THE LAWS 

While practically all the other animals have been bred along 
some line of utility, the hen has been until the last few years, abso^ 
lutely neglected in this respect. She has been bred for form and 
feather with the greatest success, but the economic value of her 
product has been sadly left alone. This is due beyond any doubt 
to the entire absence of accurate and reliable information as to any 
definite method of breeding or mating in order to make positive 
and certain advance. While the writer does not claim that an in- 
crease may be obtained every year, owing to the many contingencies 
which may effect the annual average increase, yet the results ex- 
tending over an average of years should show a definite and ap- 
preciable increase. There are so many things that may seriously 
affect the results of one year, accidents and other unavoidable oc- 
currences that the yield for any one or possibly more years will 
fall below the average of previous years. It will be recognized that 
as the limit of production is reached the increase will be corre- 
spondingly slower. 

In my own work, the start of a heavy laying strain was made 
with a hen that laid 228 eggs in one year. She was bred to a very 
strong and vigorous cock bird, one year old. From this mating was 
raised, the first year, seventeen pullets. As I included fine feathers 
in my operations from the very start, anyone will recognize that the. 
operations were highly specialized, and the birds available for 
breeders very limited in numbers. From these seventeen pullets 
but seven were put into the trap nest for testing— the others having 
been culled out. Out of the remaining seven, three laid 200 eggs or 
over in the 365 days forward from the day of first laying. The 
same cock bird was now bred to these three hens, and the best cock- 
erel back to his mother— the 228 egg hen. Of the three hens mated 
to the cock bird, two produced 200 egg daughters, and the other 
produced stock with such light colored legs that she was discarded 
from all future breeding operations and all of her offspring like- 
wise. From the old hen mated to her best son was produced one 
200 egg hen, one 190 that was shown as a pullet, and one 192 also 
shown while making her record. It may be pertinent to note here 
that the best cockerel mentioned was twice a first prize winner, 

52 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

both as young and an old bird, and the two hens last mentioned were 
in a second prize pen. The breeding operations now became too 
complicated to explain on paper, but they were worked out on the 
plan given in detail by the Felch breeding chart. A record of each 
individual chick has been kept for seven years, and it is my opinion, 
and this is certified by my experience that the matter of building up 




WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCK, OWNED BY L. F. VAN ORSDALE 

Egg record, 209 eggs in one year. Never shown. Dam of one pullei in second pen 

Bradford, 1907. Score, 94J4. 

a strain of superior layers must be worked out along this line, viz: 
individual pedigrees, trap nests in use all the year, testing only the 
best individual offspring of each particular breeder, and observing 
by all known means the transmitting powers of the individual male. 
This, I believe, is as important as it is to test the transmitting power 
of each separate hen. 

53 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

A large number of people have been led to believe that by simply 
testing a large number of hens and selecting the best layers for 
breeders they could build up a heavy laying strain, but let me say 
that if this was all that was necessary we would have had the 300 egg 
strain before now. 

One of the experiment stations has pointed out that it can only 
lead to failure as it did in their case. After nine years of selective 
breeding from the best layers they discovered that the trend of egg 
production, instead of increasing, has been steadily downward. The 
only reason that can be assigned to this is because they have blindly 
followed the law of breeding that "like produces like," and have 
absolutely neglected any consideration of the stronger law that 
"like produces unlike." The experiment station in question now con- 
cludes that the only feature of merit about their past researches, 
in trying to build up a heavy laying strain by simply breeding from 
heavy layers, was its simplicity. They also call attention to the fact 
that various other kinds of animals have been bred for utility points 
with great success, but when it came down to chickens they ignored 
the same laws that have been applied to the breeding of other ani- 
mals, and endeavored to make headway against the rejected experi- 
ence of many practical breeders. They now assume that it is nec- 
essary to test the transmitting power of the individual, as has been 
done for so many years and with such success in the cases of 
horses, cattle, hogs and sheep. It has not been demonstrated that 
all fast horses produce fast horses. If it had we would all own 
fast ones. It has not been proven that all great milkers produce great 
milkers. If it had we would all be selling certified milk. If all 
prize winners at our poultry shows produced prize winners we 
would all have a front seat at Madison Square. Unfortunately the 
"if" will let us out, and in coming down to earth we realize that there 
is some other element that enters into the question, just what, we 
do not presume to say, but it is there, and in the same measure in 
this matter of egg production. 

It should be borne in mind at all times that the more perfect 
we can make our matings in regard to the individual likes and dislikes 
of the pen mates, the more satisfactory will the hatching quality of 
the chicks be, as well as it affecting the quality of the offspring in 
other ways.. The way to keep a breed up to the proper size is 

54 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

to use only parents that are themselves of the standard size. Never 
breed from a bird that ever had any disease ; never breed from a bird 
that lays very small or badly shaped eggs, a crow-headed bird is 
never a good layer — a short, stout beak of the breed, a broad head, 
a full bright eye and a full deep chest are things to be sought when 
looking for a good layer. The same careful selection — only many 
times more careful — should be made of the male. Remember he is 
half the breeding pen and then some, and no amount of good selec- 
tion among the females will amount to ought unless the same at- 
tention be given to the masculine member. Breed from a male that 
has a full clarion crow, a bright, snappy eye, kind and considerate 
of the females, yet strong and vigorous in his attention to the 
ladies. It is a very good plan to take the male away from the 
females an hour each day and allow him to fill up on all the grain 
you can induce him to eat. This will keep him in fine condition when 
the neglect may make a vast difference in the hatchability of the 
eggs at the time when they are most needed. It is a good plan 
to feed the males a chunk of fresh meat or some green cut bone daily 
during the breeding season. 



55 



"THE EGG TYPE" 

Many of the readers of this book have seen advertised some- 
body's "system" for selecting layers at so much per copy. But I 
want to say that if anybody invents a system or could invent a sys- 
tem for selecting a good layer from a poor one, he would at once 




ONE OF MR. VAN ORSDALE"S HEAVY LAYERS 
Egg record, 211 eggs in one year. Pullet in first pen, Bradford, 1906. Score in competi- 
tion, 93^4. Dam of pullet No. 336, score 94, third pen, Bradford, 1907. Dam of 
hen No. 337, 177 eggs. A great winter layer; laid in December, 1905, 25 
eggs; in January, 1906, 28 eggs; in December. 1906, 27 eggs; in 
January, 1907, 20 eggs. Total in four months, 100 eggs. 

spring into that infinitely small class of people to whom the world 
makes a beaten path — and this without spending hundreds of dol- 
lars in advertising. These so-called systems depend for their effec- 
tiveness on the development of the pelvic bones of the hen, and 
also upon the external features such as the comb, wattles, eyes, 
feathers and actions which all poultrymen are familiar with. It 
is true that a laying hen has a wider space between the pelvic bones 
than a non-layer, but as for this indicating the quantity of eggs any 

56 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

hen will lay is preposterous. The only way this can be told with any- 
thing like accuracy is by the trap nest — this is the absolute guide to 
a hen's production. 

The beginner in starting to work on a heavy laying strain must 
take into consideration some of the vital differences that exist 
between breeds. The breeds are such as Plymouth Rocks, Wyan- 
dottes and Leghorns. The varieties are (in Rocks) Barred, White, 
Buff, Columbian, Silver Penciled and Partridge. The strains are 
Smith's, Jones's, Brown's, etc. ' This represents the distinction be- 
tween breeds, varieties and strains. 

In considering the essential differences in breeds, the first one 
that is strikingly prominent is conformation. While it is very true 
that there is no absolute egg type in any breed, still there are certain 
points that tend to influence the productiveness as a breed. Among 
them may be mentioned the necessity jor the lien to have sufficient 
body room or development, in order to allow space for the egg 
organs. This point is better emphasized perhaps in the Plymouth 
Rock than in any other breed. They have the long body, deep chest, 
wide between the legs, broad in back, and in fact are the true shape 
for securing the maximum number of eggs. This feature is also 
noticeable in the best laying types of White Leghorns. The one 
disadvantage of the Leghorn is their small size as a breed, and I 
have always contended that this small body was not a feature that 
recommended the Leghorn as an egg producer in cold climates. It 
seems natural that the hen having the larger body, and consequently 
the larger digestive tract could overcome the variations in extreme 
cold by drawing on the surplus body stores for the heat energy nec- 
essary to carry them over periods of zero weather, and at the same 
time maintain the supply of eggs. I have always noticed that the 
best laying hens in winter are those that carry a block of fat near 
the skin around the rear parts. I believe and practice the theory 
that in order to lay regularly in cold weather, it is absolutely nec- 
essary for the hen to have all that she will eat — and work for, and 
it is found that the hens carrying the block of fat as mentioned above 
are the ones that have laid 20 to 29 eggs a month during December, 
January and February. The White and other Leghorn breeders will 
at once dispute the theory advanced here but many Leghorn breeders 
have told me that when it gets so cold as to be 10 degrees below zero 

57 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

their hens have at once shut off the egg yield, and every one knows 
that when a hen quits laying it is generally about two weeks before 
she is back at her normal gait. 

Perhaps the most vital comparison that can be made in this 
matter of breed conformation in regard to egg production is the 
Wyandotte. This bird as bred for show points at the present is 
absolutely foreign to all that should make a good layer. The body is 
so short that the tail begins to raise where the neck leaves off, and 



mmmM&m 







ONE OF MR. VAN ORSDALE'S HEAVY LAYERS 

Egg record, 201 eggs in one year. First hen, Bradford, 1907. Score 95. A pullet in first 

pen, Bradford, 1906, score 94. Dam of second cockerel, Bradford, 1907, score 

94^4. Dam of hen No. 723, 190 eggs, in third pen, Bradford, 1907, score 

94. Dam of hen No. 724. 192 eggs, score 93 y 2 . Dam of pullet No. 

725, first pullet, Bradford, 1907, score 95^4, and special for 

best White Rock in class — over 80 competing. 

as a result there is not even enough room for the organs to do proper 
work in egg production. In endeavoring to accentuate the difference 
in shape between the Rock and the Wyandotte the latter breeders 
have gone to the utmost extreme and resultingly the breed is receiv- 
ing a severe setback as a utility bird. And it must be remembered that 
the fundamental law underlying the popularity of any breed is its 
economic usefulness — or egg production. The world wide popu- 

58 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

larity of any breed or variety does not depend upon its show points, 
size, color or condition, but upon the number of eggs it will lay 
in the hands of that increasingly large number of backyard breeders 
and fanciers who depend upon a few fowls for their supply of fresh 
eggs. Booms for a breed are not any indication that it will drive 
any other breed off the map of fancy fowls, because the horde of 
people who only keep a few birds want something that will produce 
a fowd somewhere near the color of the originals, and the boom 
breeds are not generally of this "kind. 

Much complaint has been made concerning this matter of 
improper utility standards, but in the poultry business as in politics, 
the rules for the game will be made by the breeders who are to be 
financially benefitted by the impractical standards, and consequently 
the small fish must come to them for the latest show stock — or be 
eaten alive, so to speak. 

This thing will never be properly adjusted until the show bird 
winner must show an egg record that corresponds to her feathers, 
and have an equal or greater value in determining the winner than 
her fine feathers. That this can be done is attested by the winners 
the author has bred whose records have been 200 eggs per year and 
over, and male winners whose mothers had records even better. 
But it requires a vast amount of the most exacting labor, the contin- 
ual trap nesting, individual pedigrees, and at the end of each year 
but a very, very few breeders truly fit to breed from. At the end 
of the fifth year after raising in the first year about fifty birds and 
increasing each year until the fifth year to about 300 birds, I had 
left for breeders but seventeen birds. It requires no small amount 
of determination to stick to the necessary culling, but the results 
now justify the labor, and the coming birds are more even and the 
egg records more satisfactory each succeeding year. It will pay any- 
one who undertakes to breed layers, or show birds, or both, to cull 
to three or four breeders each year for the first four or five years. 
This may seem like slow work but it is really the most rapid in the 
end. 



59 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

A SUCCESSFUL BROODER HOUSE 

In the fall of 1906 the writer built a new brooder house which 
is about as successful as one could desire. It was built after the plan 
of a like house erected in 1903 by the Storrs Experiment Station 
of Connecticut, and was designed by F. FI. Stoneburn of the Sta- 
tion. 

The house. Fig. 1 of the accompanying illustration, is 15 by 
30 feet on the ground. On the north side is an alley way 4 feet 
wide. The rest of the house being used for the pens, six in number, 
each 5 feet by 11 feet. 




A Successful Brooder House 

It w T ill be seen by the interior views, figures 2 and 3, that the 
vital feature of this house is the depressed alley way or elevated 
chick floor, the latter being 3^2 feet above the former. "This ar- 
rangement secures several advantages. It enables the attendant to 
care for the brooders and feed the chickens without the constant 
stooping required when the brooders are operated on the floor in 
the usual manner. It also reduces the enclosed air space fully 
one-third, effecting a corresponding saving in the amount of heat 
required to maintain a given temperature. It also places the chicks 
nearer the ceiling — the warmest part of the room — thus giving themi 
the benefit of all the available warmth. Repeated tests in the house 
under discussion showed that in cold weather the temperature at 

60 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

the level of the chick floor is fourteen degrees higher than at the 
alley floor about 3*4 feet lower. And finally, the amount of side 
wall exposed to the weather is reduced fully one-half, quite a consid- 
eration in wind swept positions. The disadvantage of the plan be- 
comes evident when it is found necessary to enter the pens for any 
purpose. It is inconvenient because of the necessary climb into the 
pens and the confined space in which to do the work." It is only 
necessary to enter the pens to clean them out, and with a short 
handled shovel and a short handled broom this is not unnecessarily 
inconvenient. One has to stoop anyhow in working, and the roof 
is high enough so that it is not necessary to crouch down. 

The selection of a site is an important matter. It is better to 




Fig. 1. Brooder House. 



do a little extra digging than to have the house an inconvenient 
distance from the other buildings. The alley way was formed by 
digging a trench along the north side. This should be deep enough 
to allow several inches of broken stone under the alley floor to pro- 
vide drainage. Parallel stone walls four feet apart were then laid 
in this trench and carried to a height of 2>y 2 feet. These were joined 
by a stone wall of the same height at the west end, the east end being 
left open for the doorway. When laying the wall on the south side 
of the alley provision was made for the three lamp pits, each iy 2 
by 5 feet, and 1 foot deep, as indicated on the plans. Each pit ac- 
commodates the lamps of two brooders. 

61 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING* STRAIN 



"The rest of the foundation is a simple wall varying in height 
according to the slope of the land, but carried to the same level 
as the alley walls. Finally, the entire floor was cemented, including 
the bottoms of the lamp pits, the cement in the chick pens being at 
the level of the top of the foundation walls." 

In the building built by the writer the entire frame is made of 
2 by 4 stuff, including the sills, which are laid in cement. The walls 
are 3"J4 feet high. The roof is an even span, with a rise of 2 feet. 
The rafters are tied with collar beams which are spiked on a level 
7^ feet from the alley floor. The entire frame was covered with 
No. 2 yellow pine matched flooring, the roof covere 1 with a three- 
ply roofing paper, and the walls and ends covered with the same 




''ctzj^^^P^s^? 



Ti^. 2. Cross Section. 



material. The door and window frames are laid over the paper. 
The structure is absolutely wind proof. Eaves troughs are required 
to carry away the surplus water which might make its way into the 
building. 

The interior of the Storrs' building was covered with lath and 
asbestos paper, but my building is lined with Sackett plaster boards 
and only the cracks plastered. This was done to cut down the cost, 
and answers very well for the purpose. The plaster boards were laid 
across the collar beams which forms an attic of great value in con- 
trolling the temperature, preventing direct radiation through the 
roof. Large sliding ventilators, . operated from the alley way by 
cords, are placed above each pair of chick pens, and in each gable 
doors are placed which open into the attic from outside. These 

62 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 




Fig. 3. Section showing south side of alley. 








t 



-S 



SI 



fl 



K-^. / 



V 



s 



\ 



^-- — -J 



\ / 

\ / 

v 



I 
I 

I 
I 



Fig. 4. Plan. 



A. — Clean-out door, rear of brooder. 
B. — Heater. 
C. — Lamp pit. 



D. — Brooder. 
E. — Window. 
F. — Chick door. 



63 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING* STRAIN 

are regulated according to the weather and form a decidedly effec- 
tive ventilating system which is entirely under control. 

"In the south side are six windows (note fig. 1), one for each 
pen, each a single sash with six panes of 10 by 12 inch glass. These 
windows open inward, being hinged at the bottom, and are con- 
trolled from the alley by cords. At the west end of the alley an- 
other window of the same size is placed. This lights the alley 
thoroughly, which is very desirable, particularly on dark winter 
days. Chick doors (note fig. 4), are 6 by 7 inches in size and are 



a « 

« t 

t o 

i t 

3 « 

1 1 j 1 n 

a h I " — a 



Fig. 5. West Elevation. 



. 


II 






1 






1 




Fig. 6. South Elevation. 



also operated by cords. The construction of pen partitions is so 
clearly explained by the cuts that no further explanation seems 
necessary. The door is made as wide as possible to permit the easy 
passage of wheelbarrows for cleaning." 

The writer uses Prairie State Universal hovers, (note fig. 7,) 
which come complete; all that is necessary is to cut a round hole 
in the board floor over the lamp pits. Gas is used for fuel, each 
hover having an ordinary Welsbach light under it. In ordinary 
weather these six lights keep the building sufficiently warm, but 

64 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

for winter use a small stove is placed in the corner at the west end. 
A very small blaze will keep the building sufficiently warm on the 
coldest winter days. 

By having a north slope it would be possible to build this 
brooder house with very little digging, and an eastern slope would 
do away with steps down into the alley way. In the house I built 
it was necessary to dig the trench on the level, and then dig a drain 
to a lower point in order to have the alley way always dry. It is 
a great convenience to have the house so that the chicks can run 




I k P 



Fig. 7. Interior, showing two hovers. 

right out onto the ground without having to climb an elevated 
runway. 

The cost of such a building is not given by the Storrs bulletin, 
and in the writer's case no account of time was taken, the work 
all being done by himself at spare times. The stone was secured 
on the farm and were laid in cement. The total cost of material 
was in the neighborhood of $115.00. All that was hired was the 

65 



HOW TO BUILD UP A HEAVY LAYING STRAIN 

hauling' of stone by a team two days. The hovers, hardware and 
labor are not included in the above figures. 

It will be seen that this house which will carry 300 chicks until 
they are six weeks old, is much cheaper than to invest $100 in ten 
outdoor brooders. Considering the ease of operation and the conse- 
quent better care of the young chicks at the time when they most 
need it, this building is the cheapest investment a poultryman can 
make. The brooder house in winter can be used for carrying special 
breeding males until the pens are mated, when it is carefully swept 
all over inside, the pens washed out with strong disinfecting solu- 
tions, and the house three times fumigated with formaldehyde. This 
insures a perfectly clean and hygienic house for the new broods. 



66 



CONCLUSION 

The fundamental success of any business depends upon the 
brains of one man in the beginning. It is no less true of the poultry 
business. It is an every day job — not skipping Sundays or legal 
holidays, and the man who engages in it must make the chickens 
the main factor and all others subservient or he will never make the 
greatest success. If one thing more than any other in this business 
means success or failure it is the ability to properly hatch and raise 
the next year's layers. This has caused the failure of more poultry 
plants than all the others combined. First begin with a trio or 
pen. When you have successfully raised 25, 50 or 100 chicks, 
then try 200, not 500. When the 200 are successfully raised try 
300. By this time you will understand some of the essential fea- 
tures that are present in the effort to raise 300 that were not present 
in the raising of the 50 or the 100 lots. The beginner in an exten- 
sive business enterprise of any kind would not think of increasing 
his stock unless he knew something of the matter of increasing his 
plant and capital in proportion as his stock increases. Yet we see, 
on every side, people engaging in the poultry business who do not 
know the first thing of handling over 50 or 100 layers, and many 
times they start with a number of incubators and hundreds of chicks 
when their experience and capital are of the old hen size. It is 
not my intention to discourage anyone who contemplates going into 
the poultry business, as a business, but I do want to lay before them 
some of the vital elements that enter into the deepest part of the 
subject that they may not begin only to fail. There are many things 
to contend with — hundreds unknown to the amateur — and the surest 
way to success lies along the slow road. With all things working 
for the best every one will have bad "luck" and after a series of 
trials and tribulations — if the poultry fever still sticks — there is the 
making of a successful poultryman. I have told you the best I 
know. Try it. 



67 




TOMPKINS' 

Rhode Island Reds 



win 1st on Single 
Comb pen four years 
in succession at Madi- 
son Square Garden. 
Also 1st Cock three 
years in succession; 
eight firsts out of pos- 
sible ten January. 
1907, and nine firsts 
out of ten December, 
1907. 

Also won at Boston 
a clean sweep on 
Single Comb class 
January, 1 908. The 
only exhibition ever 

Winner of 1st Prize at Boston January, 1908; also $100 winning the Cham- 
Championship Cup for Best R. I. Red in show, and pionship Cup twice — 
A. P. A. Silver Medal for Best Cockerel in Qnce Qn R QSe Comb 
Show and Club Special l cv l 

and once on omgle 
Comb. 

In December, 1 907, won every 1 st and every shape 
and color special on Rose Combs at New York. Also 
won in hands of many customers in the largest t shows 
all over this country and Canada. 

STOCK AND EGGS FOR SALE. 




LESTER TOMPKINS 

CONCORD, MASS. 



MCA- CRYSTAL 

THE GRIT THAT MAKE HENS LAY 



Why It Is the Best Grit on the Market 

It is no experiment, having been used successfully for fifteen years, 
and is the highest grade article of its kind in use. 

It is not a chemically manufactured grit, but is produced from a 
natural rock which contains Mica, Iron, Magnesium and Quartz, each in 
its purest and best form. It is of such peculiar formation that it will 
not take a polish as is the case with grit made from common white 
quartz or marble, and, unlike limstone grit, or grit of like soluble sub- 
stances, is not dissolved by the fluids in the crop, consequently it never 
loses its sharpness. 

It sharpens itself by contact, the only grit that does, and therefore 
excels all others as a grinder. 

It regulates digestion by properly assimilating the food, a process 
absolutely necessary to health and productiveness in poultrj^. Food not 
assimilated is food wasted. 

Its daily feeding produces more eggs, larger eggs and better eggs. 
Its use is a protection against Indigestion, Sour Crops, Drooping, Pre- 
mature or Prolonged Moulting. The mother fowl and chicks need a 
grit that will properly grind what they take into their crops. Those 
who have used it say they never lose chicks that are able to stand when 
they leave the shell. 

Without grit the feathered tribe cannot be healthy or productive- 
This is a well-demonstrated fact in nature. Ignorance of it has cost 
millions. Grit is to fowl what teeth are to other members of animal 
creation. 

Let us prove the truth of what we say by filling a sample order for 
vou. 



MANUFACTURED ONLY BY 



MICA -CRYSTAL COMPANY 



CONCORD, N. H. 



Cuts and Printing 

For Poultrymen 

Our business is to help progressive 
Poultrymen sell their birds. An illus- 
tration of your prize bird on your letter 
heads, envelopes and business forms is 
the best inexpensive method of arous- 
ing interest in your birds. Well gotten- 
up booklets showing your birds and 
stating your methods of doing business 
are mighty powerful order producers. 
The most progressive Poultrymen in the 
country are using these methods and 
are more than satisfied with the results 
"We make first quality cuts and first-class printing for poultry- 
men. Our long experience and thorough knowledge of this work 
makes our services exceedingly valuable to the Poultryman who 
is looking for more orders. 




Booklet 
FREE 

It is brim full of valu- 
able information. It tells 
of the modern methods 
employed by Poultry- 
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how Poultry Monthly 
and some of the best 
and latest Poultry books 
can be obtained with- 
out cost. A postal will 
bring this booklet to you 
FREE and postpaid. 




Clark Engraving Co. 

478 SOUTH SAUNA STREET SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 



The Prize Winning 200-Egg Strain of 

WhitePlymouth Rocks 



m 



WON AT BRADFORD, 1906— First cockerel; dam 228 eggs. Second 
cockerel ; dam 201 eggs. First pen ; three laid 200 eggs each. Fourth 
cock. Specials : Whitest bird in show, first cockerel. Silver cup, 
highest scoring pair ; won by first cockerel and 205 tgg hen. 

WON AT BRADFORD, 1907— First cock; dam 228 eggs. First hen, 
laid 201 eggs. First pullet; dam 201 eggs. Second cockerel; dam 
201 eggs. Third cockerel ; dam 205 eggs. Second pen. Third pen. 
All 200 egg bred- 

WON AT ERIE, 1907— First cock; shape special; dam 209 eggs. Sec- 
ond pen ; all 200 egg bred. 

WON AT BUFFALO, 1907— Second cockerel ; dam 205 eggs. 

DO YOU NEED ANY MORE EVIDENCE THAT I HAVE THE 
REAL WINNING LAYERS? 

Pullets for sale $3.00 to $25.00 

Cockerels for sale $3.00 to $30.00 

Hens for sale $3.00 to $40.00 

Cocks for sale $5.00 to $50.00 

Pairs for sale $5.00 to $40.00 

Trios for sale $8-00 to $50.00 

Pens for sale $15.00 to $100.00 

Eggs for sale $3, $5, $10 per 15 ; $15 and $30 per 100 



WHEN YOU THINK OF WHITE ROCKS 
THINK OF WINNING LAYERS 



BRED BY 

L. F. VAN ORSDALE 

Bob White Farm Kane, Pa. 



Chapman s M^ved Trap-Nest 

Is a Revelation in Trap Nests. 




Wonderfully simplified and positive in its workings. Will 
absolutely break the hens of the habit of eating eggs. Takes 
up no more room than a regular nest. Will save its cost on 
any poultry plant by picking out the non-layers in the fall 
for market. Made in three-fourths inch white pine lumber 
planed on either side and nicely painted. It is guaranteed 
to work or money refunded. 



Made in Three and Six Nest Sizes 

$3.00 and $6.00 Respectively 



1st It was patented March 3, 1908. 

2d It is the best-made trap nest on the market. 

3d It is guaranteed to work or money refunded. 

4th It not only uan, it not only will, but it has broken 

several of the habit of eating eggs. 
5th It takes up less room than any other nest on the 

market because it is a sectional nest. 

6th It can be placed in any henhouse that a regular nest 
could be. 

7th It is a convertible nest; by unlocking the lids — a mo- 
ment's work — it is convertible into an open nest. 

CHAPMAN TRAP NEST CO. 

WELD BUILDING. BOX G 



SEND FOR CATALOG 



BOSTON, MASS, 



BRINSER'S 

COLUMBIAN WYANDOTTES 



ssa 




At America's leading shows in the 
strongest competition, have repeatedly 
won highest honors, including shape 
and color specials. 

If you want the best write me. I can 
please you. 

Grand stock for sale in any quantity. 

Eggs for hatching in season. 

24-page catalogue free for the asking 



H. D. BRINSER 

MANCHESTER, VA. 



Nettleton s Light Brahmas 



^■^^^n 



f!RST PR\Z 






If you wish to get stock to improve your flock write 
me. I have the birds that will do it. My birds are 
line bred, hardy and vigorous. 

STOCK AND EGGS FOR SALE. 



C. P. NETTLETON 



President American Light Brahma Club 



SHELTON, CONN 



Poultry monthly 



4 4' 



Che magazine of Quality" 

D. M. GREEN, - - Editor 

ONE of the foremost poultry journals in 
the world. It is handsomely and 
profusely illustrated and contains the most 
reliable, interesting and instructive informa- 
tion on all branches of the poultry industry 
that it is possible to secure. Learned writers 
contribute to its columns, and its readers 
receive a thorough course of instruction from 
the most practical and successful breeders. 
It is a perfect encyclopedia of poultry informa- 
tion — a publication that is manifold in it's 
helpfulness. 



Subscription Price - SOc Per Year 
Speciman Copy Free 



Poultry Monthly Publishing Co. 

SYRACUSE, N. Y. 



CATALOGUE WORK A SPECIALTY 




Th 

Dehler 
Press 



PRINTING 



of Every Description 
for Poultry men 

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 

ESTIMATES CHEERFULLY FURNISHED 



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6 \9° s 



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